4 Weight-loss Tips That Actually Work

Eighty percent (or more) or new year’s resolutions are related to weight loss —and unfortunately, most of these goals are never fulfilled. So, today I made you a list of my favorite weight-loss tips. These are the ones that helped me lose 81 pounds and keep a nice shape for three consecutive years. Here they are:

1. Don’t let your family dictate your lifestyle

Having a nice family that supports you is more than great. Yet, when talking weight loss, there’s a downside for being surrounded by a loving family. A recent, 10-year study that included 15,000 Australians found that couples gain more weight than singles for many reasons:

They lose the desire to impress

They eat bigger portions: People eat more together than alone)

They eat what their family eats: It’s hard to watch your partner eat pizza without jumping in for a bite (not mentioning your kids’ snacks and leftovers)

So, what to do?

First off, tell them that you’re together in this. There will be moments when you fuck up and need help. Second, you should make meal prepping a priority. Having healthy stuff ready in the fridge will prevent some of the give-me-some-of-what-you’re-eating moments. From my experience, 80 percent of your diet will depend on whether or not you prepare your healthy meals.

2. Try intermittent fasting

Control how much you eat by shortening your feeding window. By fasting for 16-20 hours you will:

Decrease the amount of time you’re eating —which will bring down your daily caloric intake into a moderate level.

Feel satisfied with the food you eat because you’re now eating larger meals.

Conduct yourself and increase self-discipline which will rub off other living areas and make you take better choices, especially when it comes to exercising

3. Think: Lifestyle

What will happen to your shape and confidence if you exercise every day (at any intensity) for the next year? A LOT

Turning every good thing you do into a lifestyle is the real game changer of weight loss. Sustainable transformations happen when exercising become your norm and not just a thing you do to shed off some extra pounds every now and then.

My Aha moment came when I decided to walk myself into the gym every day regardless of the type of exercise I’ll be doing. I knew I will miss some days but I wanted to make working out as equal to sleeping or eating; you may miss sleep one day but you can’t miss it forever. And because I knew that once I step into the gym I will exercise, I put all my focus on wearing my gym gear and getting my ass into the gym. Now, it’s a lifestyle and part of my identity.

My advice is: Build a system where you can consistently work out and the weight will drop by itself. “Throughout my career I’ve had my antennae up, looking for examples of people who use systems as opposed to goals. In most cases, as far as I can tell, the people who use systems do better. The systems-driven people have found a way to look at the familiar in new and more useful ways.” Writes Scott Adams in How to Fail in Almost Everything And Still Win Big.

A system is anything you do on autopilot without spending much mental energy on managing it. It can be anything from dropping 20 pushups the moment you leave your bed to heading to the gym after work instead of home. Focus on becoming an active person, a sportsman or a gym goer, and aim to do it forever. Once you do this, nothing will stop you from reaching the physique of your dreams.

4. Sleep, sleep, sleep

More than one study has found a link between not getting enough sleep and obesity. People tend to mess around with food when they’re stressed, tired or not in the mood. So, by ensuring you get enough sleep you’ll feel better and eat less junk. According to this 2007 study, there’s a strong link between short sleep duration and weight gain in teenagers. This, according to an earlier study, is caused by a notable reduction in Leptin (aka. The satiety hormone), compared to a notable elevation in Ghrelin —aka: The hunger hormone. This means that sleeping less than six hours each night increases the chances of gaining weight by 55 percent for adults and 89 percent for children.

This is HUGE.

Getting enough sleep also boosts your immune and cardiovascular systems as well as your sex drive, isn’t that cool? My advice is to go to bed the same hour every night. You may spend a couple of hours in bed at first, but within two weeks your sleep quality will improve and your life will be more organized.